I do not speak French. Never have, most likely never will. My friend Hunter studied French in junior high, and all I remember is he managed to work in the phrase "exploding dog" in every piece of homework he was required to write.

Write a dialog between two people at the top of the Eiffel TowerPerson1: I dropped a dog from here once.Person2: What happened?Person1: The dog exploded.

(As a matter of fact we were 14 years old.)

Totally unrelated to that, and for reasons I am completely unable to explain, I know exactly one line in French: "Le croissant de ma tante est sur la table."For those of you, like me, who do not speak French, this means "My aunt's croissant is on the table."Not only do I not remember why I know this, I can not even recall how long I have known it.I do remember my dad taking me and my brother to eat sushi one night, and whilst waiting to get into the restaurant I kept saying this and my dad, who does in fact speak French (one of his eight languages) and we would both be hysterical.

But now, years later, and thanks to Cyril Our Local Frenchman, I have added a new phrase to my French arsenal:

Combien coute le poulet?

Which means: "How much for the chicken?"

It also alternatively means "How much for the cup?" because for reasons beyond my (or Cyril's) comprehension, chicken is slang for cup in French. Wonders never cease.

Got the results from my allergy test. Most interesting: hay fever allergens reaction is so low as to not technically be considered an allergy. Wonder if it just naturally went down, or if taking drugs and fighting hay fever for the past 5 years has made a difference.Animal-related allergens (cats & dogs) were topped only by housedust and mites/ticks/midges; off the charts. No reaction to mold/mildew, and no obvious food allergies (though I still wonder about large quantities of eggs.)So I should avoid animals and bugs and stay in a well-cleaned place. I think this is my body's way of telling me to stay out of the jungle.

Got up Not Early, had a soak and a killer breakfast and hopped on the bus (wooden floors) down to the station and got a local train to Sakata Town. Four car train. Diesel.Got on the local bus and went to Domon Ken Memorial Photography Museum, designed by The Man himself Noguchi. Nice, but small and the exhibition was limited.Walked up the street to the Sakata City Art Museum just in time for a horrendous special event not worth mentioning, had some coffee, and checked out the Brilliantly Gardened Traditional Japanese No Idea What It's For Yushinkan next door before getting on the bus back to the station and heading home.Back at Yudonoan: more soaking, eating, lounging, soaking, and eating.